1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to determining the location of a computer and, more particularly to processing hierarchical locations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Location-based applications and services may be accessed by users to obtain information specific to a user's location. Such location-based applications and services may determine the location of a computer (referred to as “geolocation”), such as a smartphone, laptop computer, and the like, and deliver information such as content, advertisements to a user based on the location. The location determinations may include geolocation to obtain the world geographic location of the computer. Some businesses employ geolocation techniques to learn more about customers such that the business can provide goods, services, content, and advertisements that may be of particular interest to the customers. For example, a website may employ geolocation techniques to identify the location of a person requesting to view a webpage, and deliver webpage content that may be of particular interest to persons in the location, such as local news, local maps, local advertisements and so forth.
In the context of the Internet, geolocation techniques often employ associating addresses of devices used to access the Internet with given locations. For example, an Internet Protocol (IP) address assigned to a computer may be associated with a given geographic location. Requests that are associated with the IP-address may be served with content that is associated with the given geographic location. Other locating techniques may include determining a geographic location from other information associated with a device or a user. However, in some instances the determination of a computer's location may be inaccurate, or the location may be at a higher level of granularity than desired for the location-based application or service. Additionally, the appropriate location, for the location-based application or service may not be selected and may not result in a user viewing the desired localized content, advertisements, etc.